Another sheriff candidate may be disqualified

YOUNGSTOWN — The name of another Mahoning County sheriff’s candidate probably won’t be on the ballot.

County elections officials say John Martynyszyn of Youngstown is expected to be disqualified, most likely at the next board meeting, May 6.

That’s because Martynyszyn voted in the Democratic primary on March 4, a day after he filed to run as an independent candidate for sheriff, according to elections board records.

A 2007 opinion from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office on the issue states if a candidate votes in a party primary election after filing as an independent, that person “is not actually unaffiliated, and the candidate’s claim of independence was either not made in good faith or is no longer current.”

Attempts today to reach Martynyszyn, a retired corporal with the sheriff’s department, were unsuccessful.

Martynyszyn could ask the elections board for a hearing to explain his actions, but that didn’t work for candidates in the same position last year.

In 2007, 16 candidates in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties — including seven in Mahoning — were disqualified because they voted in the partisan primary after filing for elected positions as independents.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com